


What Women Talk About

by misura



Category: Malazan Book of the Fallen - Steven Erikson
Genre: M/M, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-28
Updated: 2011-08-28
Packaged: 2017-10-23 04:24:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/246253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fiddler honestly hadn't meant to start this particular conversation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Women Talk About

**Author's Note:**

> I blame this on a thread on the Malazan forum where this explanation for Quick's name was suggested. Slander, I'm sure.

“No, really,” Fiddler argued, by now mostly just to keep an argument going on and to stay off the topic of what they were doing here (getting lost, as far as anyone could tell) and what they'd been _supposed_ to be doing here (not getting lost, presumably), “with wizards, it's just point and boom.”

“Is that why Quick's called Quick, you think?” someone asked - a woman, it had to be a woman, of course, all the women in this company were insane, and Fiddler did _not_ want to die because he'd managed to piss of a wizard by making a perfectly valid point which someone else had taken to be a comment on an aspect of the wizard's life Fiddler had absolutely no interest in, if only because he was reasonably sure Kalam would kill him if he did. “'cause it's just point and bam, over? No wonder I've never seen him with a woman.”

“Quick's not always a bad thing,” someone else replied - another woman, of course, because what man would get involve in that kind of argument? A lot of men were idiots, yes, but they still possessed some basic instincts of survival. “As long as he gets the job done, I'm fine with quick.”

“There's some that'll insist on slobbering all over you after. I'd just as soon take a bath,” a third woman agreed, while Fiddler weighed the benefits of letting the conversation run its natural course against the risks of trying to get it back to the original topic of why being a sapper really was nothing like being a wizard.

At least Quick Ben was still off who knew where doing who knew what. “There is such a thing as too quick, though,” the first woman argued.

“They've got cures for that, don't they?”

“You think any man's going to up and confess he hasn't got what it takes?”

“He'd better, if he ever wants to have a use for it ever again.”

“You ask me, some of them'd rather go without entirely than admit they need a bit of help.”

“Fascinating conversation.”

Fiddler glowered at the mage. Given that it was dark, it seemed safe enough. “Some warning you were going to sneak up on me might be nice next time.”

“With a wizard, it's all over in a moment, but with a sapper, you're good to go all night? Honestly, I had no idea.”

Fiddler tried to tell himself that the fact that he hadn't been turned into a newt yet bode well. Then again, as a newt, he'd probably feel much more comfortable in this place than as a human, and even in a good mood, Quick Ben wasn't really the type to do people any favors without asking something in return.

“I'll have to tell Kalam. Who knows, he might want to trade up.” Even in the dark, Fiddler swore he could see the wizard's grin, showing teeth.

“Seems unlikely,” he said. They were all part of the squad, yes, all of them Bridgeburners, but Quick and Kalam were - well, not _different_ , exactly, but they were partners. In more ways than one, it appeared, although that part of it rarely got talked about. Privacy might not be something soldiers respected very much, but an assassin and a wizard wishing for some time by themselves?

“A threesome, then,” Quick Ben said, and Fiddler was almost sure he was joking. “To test that vaunted stamina of yours, Fid.”

“Hey, I never - “ Fiddler started, before he realized the wizard was gone once more.

Well. Nothing to it, he supposed, but to pay a visit to Mallet in the morning and make an idiot of himself. Wouldn't be anything new, really, and if he played it right, things might just work out none too badly.


End file.
